Lifeline

He became isolated toward the end
At least to outward appearance
Losing a wife and then friend after friend

While immune to interference
By conventional reality
He made his own friends by poetry

If only from a distance still they were
His lifeline at the last especially one
Who kept him "sane" those years and without her
More than he did he would have come undone

"When this you see remember me" he said
"Halt die Ohren steif" she replied
I know she will long after he is dead
He loved her till the day he died

In that abstract and lonely way he had

She was the one who really knew how sad
He was because (though she knew he was mad)
I think she loved him just as he loved her
As the perfect couple who never were

Yet somehow could be in eternity

+Steven Curtis Lance



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